Philly Tech Week 2019

John Moore is an angel investor with both Robin Hood Ventures and with Social Venture Circle Philadelphia. He is also the Executive Chair of ImpactPHL, an alliance to promote and grow the impact investing ecosystem in the greater Philadelphia region. He serves on the Board of Directors for Social Venture Circle, the world’s largest and most active impact investor angel group, Good Company Ventures, an accelerator for social impact companies, and several startup companies including Wash Cycle Laundry and Milkcrate.

Michael O’Bryan is widely recognized as an expert practitioner and thought leader in the fields of community development, organizational culture, and trauma-informed practices. Since 2015, O’Bryan has served as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Initiatives at the Village of Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit headquartered in North Philadelphia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of the Arts and a certificate in Childhood Trauma Studies from Jefferson University. O’Bryan is currently a Corzo Fellow at The Corzo Center for The Creative Economy at The University of the Arts, and an Innovation Fellow at Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, in support of a startup venture focused on the advancement of behavioral skills and equity in the field of workforce development. Prior to that, O’Bryan spent more than a decade working directly with underserved populations — including veterans, adults in recovery, returning citizens, and families experiencing homelessness — and as a consultant and advisor for multiple nonprofits, businesses, and local government agencies. O’Bryan speaks to audiences nationwide about his work, including convenings hosted by Cornell University, The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, NeighborWorks America, and the famed Apollo Theatre in New York. His commitment to service has also helped him amplify his contributions to the Philadelphia region by serving on the boards of two philanthropic institutions: The Samuel S. Fels Fund and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

In tandem with his partner Leon Huff, producer and songwriter Kenny Gamble was the principal architect behind the lush and seductive Philly Soul sound, one of the most popular and influential musical developments of the 1970s. Born in Philadelphia on August 11, 1943, he first teamed with Huff during the late '50s while a member of the harmony group the Romeos, a unit which also included another aspiring area musician named Thom Bell, who would become crucial to Gamble's later success. "The 81," a 1964 single by the little-known Candy & the Kisses, was the inaugural Gamble-Huff co-production, and three years later the duo scored their first Top Five pop hit with the Soul Survivors' "Expressway to Your Heart." Soon recruiting the aforementioned Bell as arranger, they subsequently scored with smashes including Archie Bell & the Drells' "I Can't Stop Dancing" and Jerry Butler's "Only the Strong Survive," gradually forging their own distinctive sound.

Gamble and Huff's success on labels including Atlantic and Chess — as well as their own Neptune and Gamble imprints — spurred them to contact Columbia in the hopes of opening a new affiliate company, one inspired by the continued success of Berry Gordy and Motown. Columbia agreed, and in 1970 the duo's Philadelphia International Records was born. Given a $75,000 advance for 15 singles, with LPs budgeted at $25,000 apiece, Gamble and Huff soon exploded into the national musical consciousness, selling some ten million records in the span of nine months thanks to monster hits including Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones," Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' "If You Don't Know Me by Now" and the O'Jays' "Back Stabbers" and "Love Train." Their signature aesthetic — an intoxicating combination of sweeping strings, smoky horns and insistent rhythms — emerged as the definitive soul sound of the early '70s, also becoming the blueprint for the rise of disco during the latter half of the decade.

Under Gamble and Huff, Philadelphia International launched hit after hit from acts including the Intruders, MFSB, and the Three Degrees. The bottom fell out in 1975, however, when the label became embroiled in a payola scandal; charged with offering bribes in exchange for radio airplay, Gamble was fined $2500, although Huff was acquitted. Probably not coincidentally, the duo's work began to suffer at much the same time, and as the decade drew to a sound their classic Philly soul sound began to grow stale and derivative. Hits became increasingly rare, although the 1979 McFadden & Whitehead single "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" was a significant return to form. Throughout the disco era Philadelphia International's most consistent hitmaker was Teddy Pendergrass, but in the wake of the tragic 1982 car accident which left the singer paralyzed, the career of Gamble and Huff began to dissipate as well, and they rarely resurfaced on record in the years to follow.

Phil is Think Company's Executive Vice President, overseeing organizational strategy, design processes, knowledge management, and consulting on new business opportunities. He was hired as Think Company's second employee in 2008. Phil has been consulting, teaching, and writing about innovation, design, and technology since 1992. He has led consultative design teams across many industries including Life Science, Finance, Consulting, Retail, Healthcare, and Big Data. Additionally, Phil was an adjunct faculty member for the Digital Design program at Jefferson University (formerly Philadelphia University) from 1995-2014 and led experience design for the team that won the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE in 2017.

David Dylan Thomas serves as Principal, Content Strategy at Think Company and is the creator and host of the Cognitive Bias Podcast. He has developed digital strategies for major clients in entertainment, healthcare, publishing, finance, and retail. A co-organizer of Content Strategy Philly, he previously consulted at the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy and is the creator, director, and co-producer of Developing Philly, a web series about the rise of the Philadelphia tech community. He has given standing-room-only presentations at TEDNYC, SXSW Interactive, UX Copenhagen, and the Wharton Web Conference on content strategy and emerging content trends.

As the Atlantic Outreach Liaison for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Elizabeth Dougherty carries out the strategic direction of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and is responsible for leading the USPTO's east coast stakeholder engagement. Focusing on the region and actively engaging with the community, Ms. Dougherty ensures the USPTO’s initiatives and programs are tailored to the regions unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders.

A 27 year veteran of the USPTO, Ms. Dougherty previously served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. In this role, she worked closely across the Agency's leadership to implement the policies and priorities for the USPTO. She began her career at the USPTO as a patent examiner after graduating from The Catholic University of America with a bachelor's degree in physics. While a patent examiner, Ms. Dougherty went on to obtain her J.D. from The Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America and served as a Senior Legal Advisor in the Office of Patent Legal Administration for a significant part of her career. Over the years, she has also served in the USPTO’s Office of Petitions, the Office of Innovation Development, and the Office of Government Affairs. Ms. Dougherty has dedicated much of her career to the USPTO's outreach and education programs focusing on small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs. In this effort she has developed, implemented, and supervised programs that support the independent inventor community, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the intellectual property interests of colleges and universities. Similarly Ms. Dougherty has spearheaded a number of special projects with federal, state and local governments, and private organizations to promote and support invention and innovation in the United States.

Ms. Dougherty is a member of the Virginia Bar, the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court, the Pauline Newman American Inn of Court, the American Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Patent and Trademark Office Society, the Supervisory Patent Examiners and Classifiers Organization, Women in Science and Engineering, Federally Employed Women, and the Network of Executive Women.

Anisha Sinha moved to Philadelphia to pursue an AmeriCorps opportunity, and quickly decided to call this city her home. After completing a two-year AmeriCorps term, Anisha continued her work in the anti-poverty space, serving as the inaugural Program Director for Our Closet, a newly-formed clothing assistance program. During her time at Our Closet, Anisha proudly grew the organization and oversaw its eventual merge with a larger human services organization in the city. Passionate about celebrating and creating opportunities for all Philadelphians, Anisha currently serves as the Executive Director of the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC). A library enthusiast, Anisha is proud to bring the joy of reading into elementary schools through her work with WePAC.  Outside of her work, she is an avid reader, enjoys cooking, and can't resist fostering homeless animals. Anisha studied English and Psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan before pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania.